Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, July 17. Also, check out Trump’s incoherent, bizarre “speech” introducing Mike Pence, a “speech” which Ezra Klein describes as “a farce…the single most bizarre, impulsive, narcissistic performance I have ever seen from a major politician.”

Yasmine Taeb’s speech at Netroots Nation panel on “Ending the Endless War and Advancing a Progressive Global Vision”

Thank you so much, Congresswoman Schakowsky and thank you to Congressman Ellison, Kate and all of you for joining us today.

So Building on the success of the Iran deal, I wanted to take the next few minutes to discuss opportunities that the progressive community could capitalize on this fall when a number of key peace and security measures are coming up.

In September, we’ll have the one-yr anniversary of the Iran vote. This September also marks the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and 15 years since the passage of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which is the legal framework for the War on Terror.

Finally, also happening in September, the U.S. is hosting a refugee summit and the President is expected to announce in the fall the number of refugees to be resettled in the U.S. for the following year.

Now that Congress is on recess for a month and a half, it’s a key time for constituents to engage and attend town halls to prepare for this fall. The challenge we face with all these issues is unfortunately the climate of fear and bigotry. We’ve seen even more of it this week after the Nice attack.

We have an opportunity however to push back. Congressman Don Beyer has recently introduced legislation which both Congressman Ellison and Schakowsky are original co sponsors of. This bill simply states that the U.S. will not deny entry to refugees, immigrants or others based on their religious background. This is about countering Islamophobia but it’s bigger than that. It’s about standing up for our fundamental values.

Clearly this week, this is the type of message that the progressive community needs to be amplifying.

So what I’d like for you to do right now is to take out your phones and tweet at your member of Congress and urge him/her to co-sponsor Rep. Don Beyer’s Freedom of Religion Act. Go ahead and tweet the following: Please cosponsor @RepDonBeyer (spell Beyer) Freedom of Religion Act #NN16 #UnitedAgainstHate

One of the reasons this bill was introduced in the first place was in response to the backlash of the Syrian refugee crisis and anti-Muslim hate. As a lobbyist for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, one of the issues I lobby on is for is increased resettlement of Syrian refugees. I, along with colleagues at MoveOn.org, launched a Syrian refugee coalition last fall, which currently includes more than 100 national organizations representing more than 25 million people in support of increased resettlement of Syrian refugees.

After the attack in Paris last November, there was a real threat that Congress would shut down our refugee resettlement program for Syrians and Iraqis. So as advocates, we rapidly mobilized millions upon millions of people across the country to engage with their elected officials. It was truly a dark moment for our nation. Members of Congress took to the House floor to broadcast bigotry and to push increasingly dangerous policies. And all I can think of while this was happening was the image of 3yr old Aylan Kurdi, a young Syrian toddler washed up on a beach in Turkey in an attempt to escape war and destruction in Syria.

After the anti-refugee bill, the so-called SAFE Act passed the House less than a week after the Paris attack, I remember how quickly some of our leading progressive partners, including J Street, reached out wanting to help and to play a pivotal role to ensure the legislation doesn’t make it in the end of the year omnibus spending bill.

During Thanksgiving recess, hundreds of thousands of people from across the country called, wrote, and rallied in support of refugees.

If the most dangerous of these bills had passed—our refugee resettlement program would have come to a screeching halt.

But the American people ultimately didn’t let that happen.

I saw firsthand how the discourse on Syrian refugees was transformed in just a matter of weeks. Through our efforts, dozens of Members of Congress who previously supported the SAFE Act, to halt the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, reconsidered their positions and signed on to a pro-refugee letter our coalition spearheaded in the House.

I tell you all this to say that a handful of dedicated and passionate individuals can truly make a difference.

With less than four months until the Presidential elections and in the last months of the current Administration, you’re probably thinking what can I do to help move these issues?

While there may not be too many bills passed in Congress this fall, its an important time for framing the national discourse on foreign policy and national security and more so because it’s the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and to reflect on these 15 years of war and whether we’re going to continue the failures of the war on terror which are only making the world less safe.

This perpetual and costly global war has led to human rights abuses that have damaged the reputation of the U.S. from torture to indefinite detention at Guantanamo to extrajudicial killings using lethal drones. Its past time to repeal the 2001 AUMF that has served as a blank check for endless war, warrantless surveillance, and indefinite detention practices. As Americans we have an ethical and moral obligation to live our values and be a light and home for those fleeing terror, without regard to their religious or ethnic background; and to ensure we uphold the rule of law and our commitment to human rights.

Thank you to all of you for what that you’re doing to fight for a more just world.

The Louisiana Democratic Party released the following statement in response to the shooting of several law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge:

“We are disgusted and horrified by the news of today’s attack in Baton Rouge. Our heartfelt prayers and deepest sympathies go out to the law enforcement officers, to their families, and to the entire community shaken by this assault,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party.

“As we all struggle to grapple with what seems like an endless drumbeat of horror and misery, we call on our friends and neighbors to join us in reaffirming that violence is not and can never be the answer to the challenges we face. Our thoughts are consumed with the tragedy and its victims, and our prayers are devoted to their support and comfort. But thoughts and prayers are simply not enough. We must come together, as a state and as a nation, to change things for the better and break out of the cycle of violence and death.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine released the following statement today on the police shootings in Baton Rouge:

“The shooting today in Baton Rouge that killed three police officers and injured others is an atrocity. All must condemn it.”

“I worked with dedicated police officers as Mayor of Richmond and Governor of Virginia. And now as Senator, I see dedication by our Capitol Police every day. My heart goes out to law enforcement everywhere and to their families who worry when they leave for a daily shift about whether they will come home safely.”

“There are so many questions we must answer in the aftermath of the recent targeted assassinations of police officers. I am deeply troubled that it is so easy for people who plan these crimes – and other mass shootings – to obtain the murderous weaponry that allow them to carry out such cold-blooded attacks.”